Holosmith - Elixir Rifle

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Overview

Skill Bar

Slot Changes

- with all the CD reductions from various traits this becomes a rather spammable elite. Potentially having on a ~40 second cooldown is a powerful thing.

- decent unblockable damage and CC, many burst combos can be built around it.

Specializations

Variants

sacrifices Quickness uptime for more sustain through evasion and better

synergy.

Equipment

18

Superior Sigil of Annulment

Your next attack after swapping to this weapon while in combat will remove 2 boons from your target.

9

Superior Sigil of Energy

Gain 50% of your endurance when you swap to this weapon while in combat. (Cooldown: 9s)

Superior Rune of Leadership

(1): +8 to All Stats(2): +5% Boon Duration(3): +12 to All Stats(4): +10% Boon Duration(5): +16 to All Stats(6): +10% Boon Duration; when you use an elite skill, convert up to 3 conditions into boons of all nearby allies. (Cooldown: 45 seconds)

Demolisher's Amulet

+1050 Power+1050 Precision+560 Toughness+560 Ferocity

Equipment Changes

Sigils

Annulment can be replaced by:

Superior Sigil of Agility

9

Superior Sigil of Agility

Gain 5 seconds of swiftness and 1 second of quickness when you swap to this weapon while in combat. (Cooldown: 9s)

Superior Sigil of Intelligence

9

Superior Sigil of Intelligence

Your next three attacks after swapping to this weapon while in combat has a 100% critical chance. (Cooldown: 9s)

Usage

Elite specialization basics

Holosmith grants access to the Photon Forge (sometimes referred to as holo mode) and introduces a new resource: heat. Heat is generated passively while the forge is active, or by activating forge skills. Higher CD skills generally generate more heat.

Reaching maximum heat (100) should be avoided as Overheating damages you and locks you out of the forge until heat goes back to 0. The best tool for heat management is dodge rolling, which vents 15 heat per roll via

and does some moderate AoE damage.

is used to activate the forge, after which your weapon skills will be replaced by 5 new ones. You can't exit the forge for at least 5 seconds, so be careful about reentering with high heat levels.

Both Engage Photon Forge and Disengage Photon Forge count as toolbelt skills and will work with related traits. Both skills can proc weapon swap sigils too.

Forge skills

This is where most of the damage comes from

Although the auto attack chain got significant nerfs in March 2018, it can still do considerable cleave damage especially with Quickness.

), keep using this skill out of combat as well but don't build too much heat (manage with dodges accordingly). Holo Leap also does considerable damage while in combat. Keep in mind that this is a Leap Finisher, so always try to combo it with a Water Field for healing.

will be the primary source of Stability in the build and an important source of Might, granting up to 5 stacks per use. There's a second attack too which goes off after a short delay. This should be the VERY FIRST SKILL you use after entering holo mode.

can be useful for reaching targets trying to escape, otherwise it should only be used if you can make sure that all of its projectiles are going to land (for example if the target is CC'd).

is an excellent AoE CC and also a Blast Finisher. You can also fake cast it by stowing your weapon right after activation in order to bait enemy dodges.

General

The only sources of cleansing in the build are ,

and .

If you want access to more frequent cleansing, consider picking up the turret instead of detonating it, you'll lose a bit of healing in exchange for 25% CD reduction.

Against condition burst 's immunity can bail you out.

Both and its toolbelt skill are Water Fields.

Toolbelt skills grant Vigor, and you deal 10% increased damage while affected by this boon.

can be used offensively especially above 50 heat. Standing in melee range all 3 parts of can hit the same target.

is first and foremost an anti-CC skill. Use it to break out of stuns, or burst targets with Quickness without the risk of being interrupted thanks to the Stability.

is the go-to panic button in the build, making you immortal for the time being. Beside just avoiding cerain death, this elixir's also useful for stomping enemies or reviving allies without any risk of interrupts.

is the only source of Stealth in the build, and it's AoE. There are plenty of situations where stealth can be a powerful thing to have. These include hiding allies who are being stomped thus saving them, removing pressure from yourself by turning invisible, or concealing your movement before an engagement to catch enemies off-guard.

, and can CC people long enough to set up a burst.

When it comes to you're really just fishing for the proc, and

allows for more frequent gambling. isn't very desireable, usually you should quit this form in a few seconds after blowing skills 4-5 which are good for interrupting people or even decapping.

is the only true long range damge skill you've got. It's mostly used as a filler for ranged poking when you've got nothing better to do.

's damage is negligible, this skill's primary purpose is to set up burst or CC chains with the Immobilize.

is best used in melee range where it inflicts rather heavy AoE damage.

Note: this skill is NOT a projectile and cannot be reflected!

can knock downed enemies off of capture points, bleeding them out while you cap thus delaying their respawn. If taken, could do the same, but that'd be a waste of cooldowns (except if there are enemies trying to revive their downed, in that case your elite can pressure all of them while interrupting the rez attempt even if they had Stability by launching the downed player far enough to cancel the channeling).

knocks you back upon activation. To negate this you can try building Stability through Corona Burst or before using the skill.

is good for 3 things: mobility (both in and out of combat), pressure (the second part of the skill deals some heavy AoE damage), and interacting with combo fields such as (it's a Leap finisher).

Just too strong. Enjoy as long as you can - this build is in the current state just overperforming a lot. It has everything: insane dmg+cc and good survivability+support. It's the meta build of the meta builds...

23-4-19 Update: Even better after patch with the QoL bugfixes. Range buff on 3 is very nice. Now that other builds have been toned down, Rifle Holo fits more appropriately into most games. Still weak vs bunker builds like scrapper. Is good in nearly every comp except in tournaments metas, where Power Herald will outperform it in terms of raw burst power while supported (even still, it is just as viable because of the CC and extra survivability). Can carry games if played correctly.

Best engi PvP build so far, it has excellent pressure and utility in teamfights and a really neat damage output. Only problem if you don't manage really well your defensive cooldowns it can suffer a bit the condi pressure.